Seriously, being fat sucks! Now settle down. I am not talking about people and their physical features. I'm talking about a mindset in this regard. The mindset of "fat", i.e. when you settle, compromise left and right or are no longer hungry for success and won't go the extra mile. "Fat" equates to a slow death in the start-up world just as it does in the physical world. It's often inevitable but remains avoidable.

Here are a couple of things which lead to people or companies becoming "fat" as I described above:

There are many more sub-categories of the above but those four points tend to hit at a high-level most of the buttons. They pertain both to founders and managers as well as their whole companies. When you are young, you tend to be scrappy. You know how to be frugal and don't have enough in the bank to fall back on. You also haven't hit any major milestones but sure want them. Everyone who has already makes it that much more tempting when viewed from afar. You will sleep less, go that extra mile, try that "new" thing out....whatever it takes.

At some point though you hopefully start earning. You salary goes up or your company finally starts generating revenue. You're most likely still pushing hard. People or companies don't usually slow down at this point but there is a danger of getting comfortable. The least bit of comfort can lead to "fat". Just as the human body adapts to exercises and needs newer and different exercises to maintain a lean figure, so too does a founder, manager or company.

Once profits kick in though the red flags go up. You either start having enough in the bank at personal level or the company is profitable and you think you've made it. People start thinking they've "earned" it. Slowing down becomes an option and unfortuantely oftentimes a necessity. Teams have also grown and multiple levels of hierarchy have established themselves. It's far easier to hide when you're being pulled along by the few individuals bearing most of the burden.

Coasting is where things can go all kinds of wrong. Once a business can maintain a certain amount of profit without innovating much or a manager just basically continually gets promoted without showing merit, "fat" is guaranteed. Once coasting, it's almost impossible to reverse course.

3. and 4. above are hard to remedy and not the point of this post. 3. and 4. are at a personal level middle management or higher and at company level corporates. That's where the self-help books and that whole industry come in.

1. and 2. is where you can still do something about it. I believe at personal level or company level there are high-level remedies to keep in mind:

As you or your company age, your "system" slows down......do everything possible to counteract this in terms of maintaining "health".....as an individual I now do mean "exercises" your body physically, sleep often, get a stand-up desk, maintain a social life and so forth.....as a company maintain a fun working environment, offer your employees transparency, support failure and taking the risks associated with it, build new stuff and get shit done

Keep yourself or your business "young"......try out new things as an individual by switching roles, or taking on new responsibilites, i.e. grow as a leader.....as a business keep hiring young employees and letting them try out new things, consider new business areas, grow internationally or throw your business model on its head

Make sure things remain "interesting"......push yourself to get ahead and never settle, i.e. life is too short to be mediocre even if people seem to accept that ever more.......as a company, shake things up regularly by throwing people out of their comfort zone, set somewhat unachievable goals to get people to reach (just remain aware of this.....you can't set unattainable goals and then punish for missing them)

None of this is rocket science and you've read it all before. I don't need to write paragraph upon paragraph of remedies. We all usually know what it is that we need.....we just get too lazy to recognize it or purposely become blind to it. The main point is keep shaking things up. Change is good and discomfort is often necessary. If you feel like you've "made it" or things are "going smoothly", beware. These are signs of danger.

Finally, why did I feel like writing this right now. Well, without going into the details because he does, Paul Graham just wrote that the performance of Facebook's stock may lead to a pullback on financing. I am convinced it will. Investors are spooked and less money will flow. The VC and start-up world got fat and now there will be a bit of a downturn. We all know though from past downturns that this is the time to get going. Right now is when you have to turn up the discomfort level and avoid the fat. Hence, if you're a start-up, it's time to get lean again and focus on your waistline.

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